Catering for Sustainable Transport Strategies

The environmental impact of transport is considerable, particularly in the developed world. For example, in 2006, according to the US EPA greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, 1,975 million tonnes of CO_2eq emitted into the atmosphere were associated with transportation, corresponding to 28 per cent of total emissions in the US (EPA, 2008). Of this total, 84 per cent was from road vehicles, with rail only contributing 3 per cent. Data for 2010 from the UK GHG inventory indicates an emission rate associated with transportation of 139.3 MtCO_2eq, or approximately 23.7 per cent of total emissions. ¹ Road vehicles contribute some 88 per cent of this total, with rail at 1.8 per cent. It is interesting to note that the US transportation emissions corresponded to 6.5 tonnes CO_2eq per person in 2006, while the UK figure for 2010 was equivalent to1.9 tCO_2eq/person.